Published: October 29, 2007 12:41 pm            

Immigration law gives jitters to employers

EDMOND — Oklahoma employers will have new responsibilities for verifying their workers’ employment status beginning Nov. 1, thanks to provisions in House Bill 1804, signed into law by Gov. Brad Henry in May.

The Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007, authored by Rep. Randy Terrill of Moore, has four main ramifications for illegal aliens and Oklahoma employers.

It will eliminate unauthorized aliens’ ability to receive any type of government ID as well as their ability to obtain any type of public assistance.

The law also gives state and local law enforcement agencies the ability to enforce federal immigration law, including the ability to detain illegal aliens until deportation, Terrill said.

Most important for Oklahoma businesses, the new law imposes new requirements on employers to verify employee eligibility on new hires and creates sanctions and penalties for employers who knowingly and willfully employ illegal aliens, Terrill said.

As of Nov. 1, all public employers must begin utilizing an electronic verification system to check eligibility of all new hires.

Private employers who contract or sub-contract with government agencies are required to verify new hires as of July 1.

“The bill contains no mandates for private employers generally, but creates an incentive to sign up for the verification system,” Terrill said.

The law creates a “safe harbor” provision for employers who voluntarily sign up and check on their new hires, holding them harmless.

Terrill said the new law will particularly impact larger employers in certain occupational categories, such as construction trades, agricultural production or service industries.

Jeff Click, owner of Jeff Click Homes and vice president/secretary/treasurer of the Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association, agreed.

“The state’s immigration law is already posing challenges within the residential construction industry, despite not going into effect for private businesses until mid-2008,” he said.

“While most builders don’t directly employ immigrant workers, many of their subcontractors do. Misinformation about the law’s schedule ... is, in some areas, leading to early enforcement of it, which is leaving many subcontactors short-handed overnight.”

Click said builders are left looking for replacement labor, which often is hard to come by in a specialized trade.

“This affects schedules and increases costs, both of which affect consumers adversely,” he said.

Employers also will be required to meet new standards regarding firing of employees. If an employer fires a U.S. citizen after the appropriate enforcement dates, regardless of the reason, and retains an illegal alien on the payroll performing the same or similar services, it may be considered an act of economic discrimination for which the employer may be sued, Terrill said.

Mike Seney, senior vice president of operations for The State Chamber, said his organization sees Oklahoma’s new legislation as unnecessary.

“This is a federal issue and needs to be addressed at the federal level,” Seney said. “We don’t need patchwork legislation regarding unauthorized aliens. If they’re illegal, they shouldn’t be in the country, of course, but we do have a federal system in place to take care of that.

“You don’t put in another law that just creates more confusion.”



acollinsworth@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 117



The Details

What you need to know

Based on 2000 census figures, the U.S. Department of Security estimated that 46,000 illegal immigrants or undocumented workers live in Oklahoma. That’s a 188 percent increase from 1990 census figures.

According to the State Department of Corrections in 2006, Oklahoma taxpayers were paying nearly $7 million a year to incarcerate illegal immigrants in the state prison system.

        

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